Three others sent to prison for abduction, burglary

Five defendants were sentenced to prison Wednesday in Highland County Common Pleas Court, including a Greenfield man who raped a 12-year-old girl, and three men who held a couple at knifepoint as they ransacked a home.

Storm Dakota Faulconer, 20, Greenfield, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty in April to rape, a first-degree felony.

During Faulconer’s sentencing hearing Wednesday, his attorney, Kathryn Hapner, argued for a lenient sentence. Hapner said despite the victim in the case being under the age of consent, she had a consensual relationship with Faulconer.

Hapner said Faulconer and the victim thought 12 or 13 was the age of consent, which Judge Rocky Coss said was “ridiculous.”

Coss said while the age of consent in Ohio is 16, sexual relationships can still be considered unruly conduct until the age of 18.

“A 12-year-old child is not capable of giving consent, a 13-year-old child is not capable of giving consent,” he said. “This kind of thing is simply inexcusable.”

Hapner argued that while Faulconer is 20, “his maturity level is not 20,” due to traumatic events in his childhood.

“He’s not a bad guy,” she said. “He’s just a guy in a bad situation. He made mistakes.”

Faulconer is now registered as a Tier III sex offender.

Also sentenced Wednesday were three men who held two people hostage as they ransacked a residence in Greenfield.

Bradley Bolender, 35, Greenfeld, and James Hester, 30, Bainbridge, were each sentenced to seven years in prison, while Matthew Jordan, 25, Bainbridge, was sentenced to five years.

All three pled guilty recently to one count of aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, and two counts of abduction, a third-degree felony.

One count of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, was dismissed from each case as part of a plea agreement.

As previously reported, Bolender, Jordan and Hester allegedly forced their way into a residence in Greenfield on April 6 and held the occupants at knifepoint as they ransacked the house.

According to the indictment, the defendants held the victims “for nearly an hour as they ransacked the home and threatened to kill them if they resisted or reported the crime.”

According to an affidavit filed in the case, one of the victims, who apparently knew Bolender, was struck multiple times in the face as his wife was held at knifepoint.

After the three men left the home, a GPD officer on patrol saw one of them stumble and drop something on the sidewalk, according to a GPD news release.

The affidavit said the officer heard glass shatter when the object fell, and he attempted to stop the men, but they refused. A foot chase ensued, according to the release, and the men were eventually apprehended at another residence.

There, officers recovered a plastic jar containing a brown powdery substance, two pocket knives, two glass smoking pipes with burnt residue, scales, a cell phone and two pill bottles with white tablets, according to the affidavit.

When the arresting officer returned to where he had tried to stop the men, he recovered glass jars containing what was believed to be marijuana and hash, some of which were labeled “O.G. Kush,” “Krypto,” and “bubble hash,” as well as a bag of brown powdery substance labeled “O.G. Kief,” and other drug paraphernalia.

In addition to the alleged narcotics, the officer found several more knives, according to the affidavit.

The men were initially charged with obstructing official business and tampering with evidence before investigators learned about the home invasion, according to court documents.

In other sentencings, Daisy Mae Perkins, 34, Washington Court House, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to endangering children, a third-degree felony.

Perkins apologized in court and said she took responsibility for her actions.